


Both of You

by Purplefern



Series: Twins -- A Human|Squip AU [5]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Blood and Injury, Confused Jeremy Heere, Gen, Good Parent Jeremy Heere's Father, Human Jeremy Heere's Squip, I shouldn't have to tag that but just in case, I'm Bad At Endings, I'm Bad At Summaries, Introspective Character Interaction, Jeremy Heere's Squip Redemption, Jeremy Heere's Squip Uses They/Them Pronouns, Jeremy Heere's Squip looks like Jeremy Heere, Just a normal family breakfast, Just seems weird to tag him as nothing more than Jer's dad, Mr Heere being a dad, Mr Heere is a good guy, Platonic Relationships, Short Jeremy Heere's Squip, Why is Mr Heere's tag like that?, Why isn't his character Mr Heere?, but just in case, fluff?, i guess?, it's not really that bad, or is that just me?, the Squip acting like an emo teenager, the Squip doesn't like Mr Heere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:13:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23912107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purplefern/pseuds/Purplefern
Summary: They couldn't avoid Mr Heere forever. They lived in the Heere household, after all. It was probably time the two talked, even though Mr Heere only kind of understood what was going on.(Mr Heere and Squip have a talk, after Squip injures themself for the first time.)
Relationships: Jeremy Heere's Father & Jeremy Heere, Jeremy Heere's Father & Jeremy Heere's Squip, Jeremy Heere's Squip & Jeremy Heere
Series: Twins -- A Human|Squip AU [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1701745
Kudos: 45





	Both of You

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGf3vn0_5aA

It was early morning, the house was quiet and the kitchen was empty, except for the Squip. They were standing by the cabinets over the kitchen sink, staring in mild disbelief and curiosity as blood trickled out of a jagged scratch on their arm and down the limb. As they stood there watching themself bleed, Mr Heere walked in, newspaper under his arm and whistling casually. 

“Mornin’ sport” he greeted off-handedly, and they looked up from their arm to glare at him, their eyes narrowed. Clearly he had mistaken them for Jeremy. Though since they had neither put on makeup nor fixed their hair it was an understandable mistake, that did little to make them feel any better about it. 

“I am not Jeremy” they corrected him crossly, their wound for the moment forgotten. 

Jeremy’s father double-taked, looking over the Squip before his gaze rested on their dripping arm. With a look of mild alarm, he set the newspaper down and walked up to them. They kept their face passively uninterested while he leaned over, his hand hovering like he wanted to grab the injured limb but uncertain if he was allowed. 

“Hey, kid, what happened?” he asked, and the Squip noted that his voice had virtually the same mixture of concern and uncertainty that Jeremy’s often had. 

That did little to stop how their already cold look grew sharper at the man’s phrasing. One thing they were coming very strongly to dislike about their human form was the way that people would now constantly question and look down on them because of their apparent age. "I am not a ‘kid’ " they corrected indignantly, “If you must call me something, call me what I am. Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor. Squip.”

Mr Heere just stared with confusion, before correcting, “Ooookay, then. Squip, what happened?” 

They stared at him blankly, feeling no less talked down to, “I cut myself. Obviously” they replied deadpan. Scoffing, they added, “Honestly, I knew you were unobservant but I had thought that the abundance of blood would make the situation clear”. 

“Great. Another smartass teenager” lamented Jeremy’s father, turning around and walking determinedly to the other side of the kitchen. 

They felt a certain satisfaction as he left them alone, one that they didn’t feel a desire to look into more closely at the moment. It just made them smile bitterly when it seemed Mr Heere was abandoning them. Their smirk changed to a scowl when he soon returned, holding a beaten up and old looking first aid kit. Somehow him wanting to help only made them frown deeper. 

“Arm” he ordered, nodding at them. They stared at him obstinately. “Now, soldier,” he joked, but looking no less serious. 

They did not move, favoring instead to continue staring angrily at Mr Heere. Everything about him just made them want to do the opposite of what he said. They disliked him, they were starting to realize. Yes. That was it. They didn’t like Mr Heere. 

Rolling his eyes, the man decided to grab their arm anway. 

“Ye-owch” he commented, looking the wound over and grabbing a tube of anti-bacterial cream from the box, “How’d you manage something like  _ that _ ?” 

Squip did not reply for a moment, just watched with distaste as Mr Heere struggled to get some ointment out of the mostly-empty tube. 

“I see no reason to tell you” they told him harshly. 

“Geez, kid, what’d I do to you?” he sighed, exasperated, as he dropped their arm and stood up. They analyzed instantly that he was attempting to intimidate them in response to their hostility, even if he didn’t know that. “You show up at my house out of nowhere, I try to help you out, and all you do is criticize me” 

The repeated “kid” moniker rankled, but thinking on what he said they decided that it was a valid question. One that they weren’t even certain about themself. Why  _ did  _ they dislike Mr Heere so much? It couldn’t have been from anything from their time as a human, they quickly concluded. Mr Heere, as he observed just now, hadn’t done anything to them. Which meant the answer had to lie in the complicated mess that was their memories from their computer life. Thinking back on those memories with a new perspective, they remembered the multiple times that Jeremy had complained about his father. Even when they had been a computer, they hadn’t much cared for Mr Heere, they realized. He got in the way of their objective to help Jeremy. And now that they had human emotions, apparently that made for them strongly disliking him from how he had neglected his son. 

“I have a lingering dislike of you from my time as Jeremy’s SQUIP” they finally responded, even though that reply seemed to only make the man more confused. They continued,trying to convey their realization to Jeremy’s father, “It was my job to keep his best interests in mind. And now that I’m human, I’ve noticed that that has translated into me often being...very protective of Jeremy. You were often an obstacle to that goal then, so I suppose I now see you as a threat to Jeremy ” at this point they glared (slightly upwards) at Mr Heere to look him in the eyes, summarizing for the confused man, “In short: I don’t trust you. As long as I’ve existed you’ve done nothing but hurt and neglect Jeremy, and I don’t like it” 

Mr Heere was finally starting to fully catch on that this was more than just a sassy teenager. They spoke in a critical way that almost sounded like a fellow parent. It was bizarre. So apparently they  _ were  _ a supercomputer inside Jeremy’s brain. Or at least, used to be. 

He sighed, admitting, “I know. I wasn’t exactly the best dad. I guess I can understand you not liking me if your whole thing was helping Jeremy. I know I wasn’t” 

Slouching slightly, he shrugged his shoulders helplessly, and spread his hands out, “But I’m working on it, you know? I’m trying to be there for him more.” 

He gave a small laugh, gesturing at Squip and their considering expression, “If a supercomputer can become a human, it can’t be so crazy that I want to become a better dad, right?” 

His words reminded them, suddenly and embarrassingly, that they really had no right to be calling out Mr Heere. They had done their own fair share of hurting Jeremy, even if they wanted to forget that. Really, they had both failed him at some point. And now they could relate to Mr Heere’s desire to be better. It was something that they were working on as well. 

“That is true” 

“Right” he nodded surprisingly assertively, “And if you want to help Jeremy, help me be a better parent by letting me help you with that” he gestured back to their still bleeding arm. 

They almost protested again, this time on the grounds that they didn’t need “parental” help in any form, but Mr Heere seemed to anticipate this retort, saying, “Look, you may see yourself as a supercomputer and all that, but all I see is a teenager bleeding all over the kitchen floor” he frowned slightly, adding, “I just want to be useful, you know?” 

Well. They found it hard to disagree with  _ that _ . “Fine” they relented, holding out their arm once again, and Jeremy’s father got back to cleaning it off and bandaging it up. 

“You never did tell me how this happened” he commented as he finished wrapping some bandages around the jagged cut. 

They blushed ever so slightly as they were reminded how they even got here. They debated not telling him, but ultimately decided that they were just beginning to build a more positive relationship with Mr Heere. An embarrassing anecdote could help smooth things over further, and they admitted, “I was reaching for a glass from the top cabinet, but I misjudged the height and accidentally scraped my arm on the door hinges” they coughed awkwardly before saying, “I’m still not fully used to being this height. When I projected a physical form while I was Jeremy’s SQUIP I was significantly taller”. 

Mr Heere chuckled at that, but not unkindly. “Being a better dad seems easier to get used to than that” he continued to laugh while he put everything back in the first aid box. Giving them a knowing smile as he clicked the clasps to the box into place he said, “But, we’ll both make it one step at a time, huh, sport?” 

They wondered for a moment if he had somehow forgotten that they weren’t Jeremy (which seemed nearly impossible given the conversation they had just had), before they realized that the nickname was directed at them this time. They weren’t sure that they liked it, but didn’t say anything about it this time. Mr Heere wanted to feel like a useful and responsible adult, and if he needed their help for that for some reason, they didn’t mind that much. 

“So” he asked, putting the kit away back to its high shelf, “Do supercomputers like coffee? I’m gonna make a pot” 

Smirking, Squip sat down at the kitchen table, replying, “We prefer Mountain Dew. But I could try coffee”. 

When Jeremy finally got up and tiredly made his way into the kitchen for breakfast, he paused and rubbed at his eyes at the image that greeted him. His dad and the Squip both sat at the kitchen table, holding cups of coffee and casually conversing. He wondered what exactly he had missed. 

“Mornin’ sport!” greeted his dad, breaking off from the conversation to smile at him. 

“Good morning, Jeremy,” the Squip followed, taking a casual sip of coffee. 

“Umm, okay?” he asked, looking between the two of them who until now hadn’t said more than two words to each other, “Did I miss something? Since when were you two so buddy buddy?” 

The two shared a look at the question, and ok, yeah, that freaked him out a little bit. 

“Squip and I had a chat while you were still asleep. We’ve reached an understanding” his dad replied. 

“Well that doesn’t sound weird at all” he commented sarcastically, looking to where his once computer sat innocently drinking coffee and just nodding to what his dad said. It was only then that he noticed their bandaged arm, “Hey, no, seriously, what happened? Are you alright?” 

They waved his concern off, replying, “It’s fine. Your father assisted me with it, nothing to worry about". 

Somehow everything they both said to clarify things only made him more confused. "He--you-- you let him help you?" he asked the Squip, pointing at them. Moving his finger to his dad, he asked him, in an equally confused tone, "You actually know how to help with cuts and stuff?"

"'Course private" his dad chose to reply first with a strained grin, "Your old man knows how to put on a bandage". With a sudden inspired look, he got up from the table and moved to the stove, saying over his shoulder, “And he knows how to do a bit more than that! How’s about I make breakfast?” 

“Um, okay?” he relied incredulously. His dad had never offered to cook anything before. Seriously. Could they both just stop being so confusing.

He looked over to where the Squip sat, for some reason looking proud, and decided that the answer was “apparently not”. 

“I think that would be a good idea” they told his dad. Giving Jeremy a slight frown, they added, “Jeremy should eat breakfast for once”. 

Before his brain could really catch up to what was happening, Jeremy suddenly found himself sitting at the table with a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him; the Squip sitting right next to him and his dad sitting at the head of the table, looking at him expectantly. Blinking tiredly at his plate, he ate a spoonful of breakfast and gave his dad a thumbs up. Both his dad and the Squip looked glad to see him eating (but the Squip was really overreacting, he  _ did too  _ eat breakfast. As for his dad, ok, he didn’t know exactly what was up with that, but whatever). He decided to just stop questioning things, and instead just shook his head, ate his eggs, and accepted that this was the new normal. 

**Author's Note:**

> Considering that Jeremy kind of used the Squip as a stand-in parental figure, I thought this would be an interesting interaction to think about. Hope you agreed.  
> Leave kudos, comments,etc, thank you for reading!


End file.
